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Written Question
Music: Education
Thursday 5th March 2020

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of funding for music in schools between 2014 and 2019.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department believes that music is an important subject and that all pupils should receive a high-quality music education. That is why the subject is compulsory in the National Curriculum up to age 14.

Music education is primarily the responsibility of schools. To support schools to offer a broad and balanced curriculum, the Department announced an increase in investment for schools across England of £14 billion over the next three years at the 2019 Spending Round, with increases of £2.6 billion to core schools funding in 2020-21, and further increases of £4.8 billion and £7.1 billion in 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively. On top of this we are providing £1.5 billion for the additional pension costs for teachers, bringing the total core schools budget to £52.2 billion by 2022-23.

To support schools deliver high-quality music education for all their pupils, the Department has provided funding of over £300 million for music education hubs between 2016 and 2020, including £76 million in 2019-20. This is a significant increase from the £58 million hubs received in 2014.

In early January, we announced further funding of £85 million for music and arts in 2020-21; £80 million for music hubs coupled with further investment in film, dance, theatre and design. The Department has also confirmed that an arts premium will be provided to secondary schools to fund enriching activities for all pupils. Work is underway to develop the arts premium and we will be making further statements on this in due course.


Written Question
Sex and Relationship Education: Marriage
Monday 7th October 2019

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will ensure that the curriculum for relationships education continues to include marriage as one of the issues when children are being taught about family life as set out in the Education Act 2002.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Government believes that pupils need to understand the nature of marriage and its importance. The new subjects of relationships education (primary) and relationships and sex education (secondary) cover the age-appropriate knowledge that all children need to form safe, positive relationships based on respect and to prepare them for adult life, including family life.

Following the passage of the regulations for the new subjects, the Department published the statutory guidance in June 2019. The guidance covers teaching about different types of relationships, and this is addressed throughout the content. Under the topic of families, for example, the guidance sets out that by the end of primary education pupils will know “that marriage and civil partnerships represent a formal and legally recognised commitment of two people to each other which is intended to be lifelong”. By the end of secondary education, pupils will know “what marriage and civil partnerships are, including their legal status”. Teaching about family and parenting is also included in these subjects.

The guidance also notes that teaching about families requires sensitive and well-judged teaching based on knowledge of pupils and their circumstances. The guidance can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.


Written Question
Overseas Students
Thursday 21st March 2019

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of (a) the 10 countries supplying the most overseas students and (b) the numbers of students from each of those countries who were studying at further and higher education facilities in the UK in 2018.

Answered by Chris Skidmore

Information on the nationality of learners is not held for government funded further education courses via the Individualised Learner Record.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects and publishes statistics on enrolments at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Latest statistics refer to the academic year 2017-18.

In total, there are 458,490 higher education (HE) students enrolled at UK HEIs from non-UK countries in 2017-18[1]. This can be found at:

https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/where-from.

The table below shows the top 10 countries that have HE students entering UK HEIs in 2017-18 ranked by how many entrants they have at UK HEIs.

Country of domicile

Number

China

76,425

India

12,465

United States

11,625

Germany

7,135

France

6,910

Hong Kong

6,790

Italy

6,160

Malaysia

5,935

Greece

5,080

Nigeria

4,805

Source: Figures 10 and 11

https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/where-from.

[1] Source: Figure 8


Written Question
Overseas Students
Thursday 21st March 2019

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of overseas students who were studying at further and higher education facilities in the UK in 2018.

Answered by Chris Skidmore

Information on the nationality of learners is not held for government funded further education courses via the Individualised Learner Record.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects and publishes statistics on enrolments at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Latest statistics refer to the academic year 2017-18.

In total, there are 458,490 higher education (HE) students enrolled at UK HEIs from non-UK countries in 2017-18[1]. This can be found at:

https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/where-from.

The table below shows the top 10 countries that have HE students entering UK HEIs in 2017-18 ranked by how many entrants they have at UK HEIs.

Country of domicile

Number

China

76,425

India

12,465

United States

11,625

Germany

7,135

France

6,910

Hong Kong

6,790

Italy

6,160

Malaysia

5,935

Greece

5,080

Nigeria

4,805

Source: Figures 10 and 11

https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/where-from.

[1] Source: Figure 8


Written Question
Vocational Guidance
Thursday 7th February 2019

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what liaison there is for promoting best practice guidelines between the National Careers Service and its counterpart organisations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Answered by Anne Milton

Responsibility for delivery of careers information, advice and guidance was devolved to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales as part of devolution.

The National Careers Service shares information and best practice as appropriate with the devolved administrations, including on the development of the National Careers Service website to make sure that it meets the needs of young people and adults.


Written Question
Children in Care
Monday 4th February 2019

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the change has been in the number of (a) looked after children and (b) children who were in foster placements between 2013 and 2018.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

The information is shown in the table accompanying the response.

Figures on children looked after and placed in foster care in England are published table A2 in the national tables in the statistical releases ‘Children Looked After in England including adoptions: 2016-2017’ and ‘Children Looked After in England including adoptions: 2017-2018’, which are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children.


Written Question
Foreign Students
Monday 28th January 2019

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the change has been in the number of UK students studying abroad between 2016 and 2018.

Answered by Chris Skidmore

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) collect and publish the number of UK students studying wholly overseas. Tertiary education is defined as International Standard Classification of Education levels 5-8. Statistics on mobile UK students studying abroad in 2016 and 2017 have been provided in the table. Data for 2018 has still to be published by UNESCO.

UK DOMICILED STUDENTS STUDYING ABROAD 2016 to 2017

Year

Number of UK students studying tertiary education programmes abroad

2016

34,017

2017

34,025

Source: UNESCO, internationally mobile tertiary students studying abroad (2016 to 2017), data available at http://data.uis.unesco.org/.

In addition, ERASMUS collect and publish further information on the number of students studying overseas as part of their studies at their UK university, available at http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/about/statistics_en.


Written Question
Apprentices: Northern Ireland
Monday 17th December 2018

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of apprenticeship levy funding that will be allocated to Northern Ireland in 2019-20.

Answered by Anne Milton

Northern Ireland will receive their agreed share of the apprenticeship levy of £82 million in 2019/20. Northern Ireland will also receive an additional £3.8 million for apprenticeships in 2019/20, as announced in this year’s budget.


Written Question
National Careers Service
Monday 3rd December 2018

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) geographical area and (b) age range the National Careers Service covers.

Answered by Anne Milton

Careers is a devolved matter and the National Careers Service covers England only. The service provides free, up to date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the labour market.

The service is available for adults aged 19 and over. They can access the service through the following three ways:

  • Contractors based in the local area which provide access to face-to-face and telephone advice;
  • The National Careers Service Helpline which offers web chat, text and telephone support; and
  • The National Careers Service website which is available at: https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/about-us/home.


Young people aged 13 to 18 can also ring the National Careers Service Helpline for advice, or they can use web chat or the National Careers Service website.

Please note that information about careers provision in Northern Ireland is available at:

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/campaigns/careers.


Written Question
Autism: Children
Monday 26th November 2018

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the change in the number of children requiring autism support since the commencement of the Children and Families Act 2014.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

We publish the number and proportion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN), including the type of need in the annual ‘SEN in England’ statistical release:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen.

Pupils with SEN are recorded according to their primary type of need. Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is included as a type of need.

The table below shows a breakdown of the number of pupils with ASD as their primary type of need from 2015 to 2018 (as at January each year):

2015

2016

2017

2018

SEN support

36,530

42,801

47,571

53,546

Statements of SEN & education, health and care plans

54,245

57,211

60,832

66,363

Total

90,775

100,012

108,403

119,909

Source: School Census